The King of Hearts has had way too many tarts. Late in Cortopia’s VR game Down the Rabbit Hole, the player contends with a king who has grown to epic proportions.

I wasn’t super subtle in my musical characterization of the over-fed monarch: he gets a tuba solo.

Listen to the music at the usual places below.

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Much of the score for Cortopia’s “Down the Rabbit Hole” has a fantasy or neo-Baroque character, reflecting the game’s setting and pompous resident aristocracy. This week’s cue, in contrast, is more like a 19th-century symphonic march. I restricted the instrumentation to winds and percussion in order to make the music feel less lush and more stern.

Listen to the music for free at the usual places below.

(Also, check out my interview about this score on Kate Remington’s fantastic Music Respawn game music podcast!)

Spotify:

Apple Music:

YouTube: (no subscription required)

This selection from the score for Cortopia’s VR game “Down the Rabbit Hole” accompanies a level with sly sneaking, and trickery of pompous sentient-card aristocrats. Needless to say, bass clarinet was called for.

Listen to the music for free at the usual places below.

(Also, check out my interview about this score on Kate Remington’s fantastic Music Respawn game music podcast!)

Spotify:

Apple Music:

YouTube: (no subscription required)

As presented here, this cue from “Down the Rabbit Hole” proceeds in an orderly fashion from start to finish. The in-game experience is quite different. The anonymous adventurer has slipped down a ladder into a seemingly eternal rabbit hole. As she learns to slow her descent, the frenetic music gradually becomes sparser and more gentle.

To create a sense of “falling forever”, I had the music descend down the symmetrical whole tone scale, which, conveniently enough, finishes up exactly where it starts.

If you’d like to see/hear this sequence in context, check out this YouTube video. The music’s pretty soft so you may need to crank the volume.

Or just listen to the music as usual:

Spotify:

Apple Music:

YouTube: (no subscription required)

Here’s more music from Cortopia’s recently-released Down the Rabbit Hole. This region of the game is a surreal crystalline ocean, co-existing with an upside-down version of itself.

This atmospheric cue is a departure from the impish neo-Baroque tone of the rest of the score. I had fun adding backwards effects and chords that enter “too early” relative to the predominant harmony.

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Apple Music:

YouTube: (no subscription required)

Here’s more music from Cortopia’s recently-released Down the Rabbit Hole. This cue was originally written for another part of the game, but was deemed too regal for that level’s rustic environment. However, it worked perfectly for a section of the King of Hearts’ castle near the grand finale.

Spotify:

Apple Music:

YouTube (no subscription required):